How can I keep earthworms off my porch?

kathy_tMarch 13, 2010

I have a lovely three-season porch surrounded by a boardwalk. Two of the walls are sliding glass doors (3 doors make one wall, 2 doors the other) and the other two walls are the outside of my house. The floor is porcelain tile over concrete. Whenever we have a heavy rain, I find unwelcome earthworms on the porch. I can only guess they are coming up through the drain holes in the door rails.

My question: Does anyone know of a way to discourage these little creatures from crawling onto my tile floor? Currently, I let them dry up, then I scrape them off with with a putty knife. (Yuck!)

I think I would wet/dry vac them up before they dried.
Try plugging up the drain holes with someting that will allow water to drain like bronze wool, landscape fabric or similar. More likely they are crawling under the sliding door sills. Caulk the track at the slab. Make an effort to see how they are getting in. Take a beer or glass of wine and spend some recon time on your patio when it rains.
I thing John was thinking to attract birds that also might eat the worms. A chicken or 2 would probably have a feast & learn where to go when it rains for the treat.

I live in a condo on the ground floor, I have an open cement patio and when it rains, the worms crawl from the grass down onto my deck, in droves. Is there anything I could do/put down to prevent this?

Not much you can do about it. When the soil gets waterlogged the worms leave the soil and crawl around on the surface. Otherwise they'd drown. Lots of worms is a sign of healthy soil though so thats a plus.